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Cyclists on Teton pathway
Conservation + Recreation: 
October, 2012 
In the News

Half the Sky, But Only 24% of the Bike Lane. This short Streetfilms video  covers the first-ever National Women's Bicycling Summit that took place last month, and recaps the effort to get more women leading bike advocacy - and just more women riding, period.   

 

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bike Sharing.  Download the U.S. Department of Transportation's new report on bike sharing - it's got the data on nine U.S. systems in both large and small cities, and documents some lessons learned.

 

Capital Bikeshare Success.  Washington D.C.'s highly visible bike sharing system just turned two years old.  The system is nearing 200 stations, and the fleet has logged over two million miles. Check out this new infographic celebrating their successes.

 

York Times Opinion Piece Says NO to Helmets. Elisabeth Rosenthal pens a provocative piece suggesting that riding without helmets might really be the best policy.  [We at Conservation + Recreation neither endorse nor refute this idea, but present it here for the sake of examination and discussion.]

Findings and Publications

An Argument for Separated Bike Lanes. Sometimes anecdotal evidence can be powerful. In this case, even the flimsiest of barriers has an important observed impact on bicyclist safety. The Atlantic published an interesting article about bike lanes "protected" by... plastic beverage cups.

 

Bike Commuter Demographics by State.  It's a fact: commuting by bike is on the rise. A new resource details the growing slice of the workforce that bikes to work, broken down by state and gender. The statistics and data come from the American Community Survey, conducted by the United States Department of Commerce.

 

Bicycle "Traffic Garden" in the Netherlands.  In this renowned bicycling country, young children get to practice what they're taught about driving, walking and biking through city traffic.  Check out this video demonstrating the Dutch take on traffic school

Upcoming Events

Pro-Walk, Pro-Bike Conference Set for Pittsburgh in September 2014. After wrapping up a successful conference in Long Beach this year, the Pro-Walk, Pro-Bike conference has already announced that they will be in Pittsburgh in 2014.

 

IMBA World Summit in Santa Fe. The upcoming IMBA World Summit will be taking place in Santa Fe, this October 10-13th. Key discussion topics include sustainable trail design, bicycle tourism with economic development, trail advocacy and public lands policy.

 

News and Events. The National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program maintains a list of recent news and events. Do you have one to share? If so, tell us about it on our Facebook page

Grants and Job Opportunities

Follow our Grants Roundup on Facebook. The Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program's Facebook page rounds up grant opportunities every two weeks. Check out the most recent posting for grants.  You also can follow the page so you'll never miss a grant highlighted there.

Trail of the Month

The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail is a paved 10-foot-wide multi-use trail, being built in phases in partnership with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan Department of Transportation, TART Trails Inc., Leelanau Scenic Heritage Route Committee, Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, and with the assistance of the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program. The trail is empowering all types of people, and serving as an important community focal point.

A Tip of the Hat to...  

Jim Foster

Heritage Trails Partnership of the Mississippi Gulf Coast 

Biloxi, Mississippi

 

Recently, Jim stepped up to become the leader of the Heritage Trails Partnership (HTP) after two years of working with the Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance Program. Through Jim's volunteer leadership, the Heritage Trails Partnership is a nonprofit known for its advocacy of best management practices for trails.  HTP has convened communities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast in a dialogue about creating a network of blueways and greenways.  Jim built a diverse Board of Directors for the HTP including leaders in conservation, business, planning and health. Under his effective guidance the board leads the effort to create the Mississippi Coastal Heritage Trail, an effort recognized by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's America's Great Outdoors Initiative.  Jim also played a critical leadership role to engage young leaders in the creation and advocacy of trails through the Junior Trails Partnership, initiated by HTP and supported by Outdoor Nation.

 

Jim has put in countless unpaid hours of hard work, including many drives across Mississippi to advocate for trails, and to provide expertise for building a strong network for trail users. We tip our hats to Jim for all his leadership, hard work, and creativity.

Let's Work Together
Could your project benefit from collaboration with a National Park Service specialist?
 
If you're restoring a river, building a community trail, or making an urban park flourish, we'd love to talk with you about ways we could work together.  
 
   
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Conservation + Recreation is written to support and inform our organizational partners, friends of the program, potential partners, and Department of the Interior staff. It's our chance to share activities and successes and those of our partners. For details on specific projects, please contact the staff person involved with each project.

Images courtesy National Park Service except as noted.